22-23 December - L'Arrive

After a rainy day spent being a tourist in Casablanca (which made me almost as uncomfortable as that city itself…I don’t know what it is, but considering I’ve never been more thatn 50km from the airport, I will withhold judgement on Morrocco…) I was overcome with my now customary sense of pride and exhilaration when the low-lying tin roofs and pockets of LEDs of Lome came into sight. The plane’s windows fogged with thick, humid air. Temperature on the ground 26 degrees celcius. At midnight.

I got through customs quickly, but my glee soon dissipated when neither my solar panels nor my backpack appeared on the chugging baggage belt…not all that surprising but frustrating nonetheless…not having one’s toiletries in Togo isn’t quite the same as not having them in Florida…

Upon arriving in the baggage room my hurried American sense of accountability gave way to my African sense of patience. I waited while the sleepy eyed woman sweating behind the counter chatted in Ewe with the 15 frères in front of me, then eventually took my turn as she explained that perhaps my bags would arrive on the next flight…on Saturday…my skinny jeans immediate felt even sweatier at the thought of having to wear them for 4 days...

If it had just been the panels that didn’t arrive I would have lost all hope…but since it was both, I took the handwritten receipt, looking longingly at the JFK electronic tracking numbers I saved (for some reason…)

“Madame Mapwo” (I want to see) said the grinning attendant of my carry-on bag as I tried to exit the terminal, but when I responded cheerfully that it was just equipment for an NGO project in Kpalime, and thanked her in Ewe, she clapped and let me pass, to find Inno, Atsou and Jules waiting for me on the other side of the frosted glass.

Unfortauntely we couldn’t find fufu at 1AM, but we did stop for a Flag before speeding towards Kpalime in the rented car they had pooled together money to bring for my bags…dommage that there were no bags, but I love my friends.